Andy Murray upsets Roger Federer to win Olympic gold

Andy Murray vs. Roger Federer: Britain gets another Olympic gold

LONDON — This cannot be how Andy Murray imagined it, or how anybody imagined it. He had failed to slay the dragon on this same court four weeks ago, losing to Roger Federer in the final at Wimbledon, his heart cracked open for all to see. “I’m getting closer,” he said that day, choking with emotion, trying to hold it together. He nearly did.

Sunday, Andy Murray got another chance on the same court, but in a very different place. This time, he never wavered. This time, it did not rain. This time, the Scot refused to be cracked open at all. This time, he won.

“The biggest win of my life,” said Murray immediately after winning gold with a shocking 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 win over Federer, the world’s No. 1 player. Later, he said, “I have lost some tough matches; I’ve had a lot of questions asked about me, many times. So I’m glad that today I was able to put on the performance that I’ve been waiting for, I guess.”

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He was not the only one waiting. No British man has won Wimbledon since 1936, but no British man had won Olympic tennis gold since the Games here in 1908, and this one came as part of a gold rush that crested across the country like a wave. Six gold medals Saturday, each one building on the last, and Murray played in the afterglow Sunday. He admitted to nerves early, and faced two break points on his first service game.

But his coach, Ivan Lendl, had told him beforehand he would never face as much pressure as he had in the Wimbledon final, and Murray played without fear. It was strangely seamless, considering. With a raucous crowd behind him and a strangely flat Federer across the net, he simply played the match of his life.

“He was better than I was today,” said Federer, who had won every major singles title but Olympic gold. “It’s easy to come back [after losing Wimbledon], best-of-three, you know, go out third round maybe. You just feel more horrible. But he didn’t do that. He came, he won gold. I think this is how champions react.”

The last best chance to make it a match may have come during a 19-point game with Murray serving at 2-0 in the second set, but Murray did not allow Federer to convert any of his seven break points. Late in the game, he pinned Murray deep with a backhand down the line, perfectly placed; Murray chased it down, like he chased everything down, and sent an eye-popping two-handed backhand back up the line. From 2-2 in the first set, Murray would win nine straight games. He dropped one point on his service in the third set. As Federer put it, “he never looked back.”

Federer had begun the tournament with a harrowing 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 win over Colombia’s Alejandro Falla, and in the semi-finals against Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro, he won the third set 19-17 and del Potro, back to being a massive terror after two years of injuries, laid his head on Federer’s shoulder when it was over.

“Look, Olympics don’t come around every year,” said Federer. “God, I had tears in my eyes after my first-round match, believe it or not. Doing media I think, on court. I almost broke down. I can’t believe this is happening. But this is how much this meant to me. I understood how close I was from losing.

“Every Olympics has been a life-changer for me, to be quite honest, in Sydney, in Athens, and Beijing … you appreciate other sports, appreciate winning, losing. I love watching sports because of the reactions of the people at the very end. How do they take wins? How do they take losses? All these things … Obviously, the del Potro match … I’m happy I had a match like this, even though it may have cost me the finals. Who knows?”

This, for Murray, was a life-changer. At the very end Murray pounded a service winner and consecutive aces to finish it, nerveless, and then dropped his racquet, covered his face in his hands, half-crumpled to the ground, laying his palms flat on what was left of the grass. But he did not crack open, not quite, and he recovered to greet Federer at the net. Murray said he was surprised at how calm he felt, how peaceful. He was not sure why. He sang along with God Save The Queen on the podium, just enough, which angered a few people back home.

But he won this for Britain, not just for Scotland. He deserved to choose how to act, in victory. There is a theory that the 25-year-old Murray points to the sky after a victory in honour of the 16 children and a teacher massacred by a gunman at his school in Dunblane when he was eight years old — he and his brother Jamie hid in the gymnasium that day — but he would not confirm that. “Yeah, there is a meaning behind it,” he said. “But it’s for me, and the guys around me. They know why I do it.” A wise Scottish reporter said he believed Murray would never besmirch the memory by making it public. That he has to keep it private, to keep it pure.

Murray played for gold in mixed doubles with Laura Robson just over an hour later, against Max Mirnyi and Victoria Azarenka of Belarus. He lost that match, 2-6, 6-3 and 10-8 in the tiebreak, and you could see how much he wanted that, too. He smacked the net when it was over. He said he was gutted.

But Andy Murray won the day, nonetheless. This tournament is stuffed with millionaires, but the Olympics are different. The huge golem of a man, del Potro, broke down after losing the semi, and after winning the bronze; Federer said, quite seriously, “I hope, you know, the Swiss are proud of me.” And Murray found the greatest day of his life. He was asked if this meant more than winning Wimbledon would have.

“I got asked that question a lot before,” he said, in his slow, dry, quiet brogue. “I got asked it a lot this week. I would love to win Wimbledon, for sure. But this felt good. And I wouldn’t change this for anything right now, that’s for sure.”

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